Variety is reporting that Paramount is planning a new animated Heavy Metal film with segments directed by David Fincher (Seven, Zodiac), Tim Miller (Rockfish) and Kevin Eastman of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fame (and coincidentally the owner and publisher of Heavy Metal).The new Heavy Metal film will consist of eight or nine individual animated short films that will mirror the format of the anthology magazine, which debuted in the U.S. in 1977 and brought a new level of sex, violence and sophistication to the world of U.S. comics to which it also introduced a number of key European creators including Moebius, Enki Bilal, Phillippe Druillet and Milo Manara to name just a few.

There have been two previous Heavy Metal animated films, the most famous of which came out in 1981 and featured segments based on original comic stories by Richard Corben, Juan Gimenez, and Bernie Wrightson among others.Kevin Eastman produced a sequel, Heavy Metal 2000, which was based on The Melting Pot, a graphic novel written by Eastman, Simon Bisley and Eric Talbot.

Fincher, who well be spearheading the new Heavy Metal film, has just finished The Curious Case ofBenjamin Button, which is due out in December.Fincher, who has become something of a "go to-guy at Paramount, has also been tapped to helm an adaptation of Charles Burns' Black Hole (see "Fincher to Direct Black Hole").